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Thread: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

  1. #1

    Thumbs up Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    First, don't confuse this with the older StroboClip. The stroboclip HD has just come out, and has several advances over the older device. It can be updated to the latest firmware by USB, and you can create your own custom sweeteners through the Peterson website to be added to the 50 sweeteners it has for various instruments including obscure instruments like a lute or a couple types of harp.

    With so many sweeteners it has the ability to put your most frequently used sweeteners at the head of the list or in a particular order of your choosing. This is important if you regularly used the sweeteners for something like bass, acoustic guitar, 12 string guitar, mandolin, and fiddle and had to search through the 50 sweeteners for them.

    It even has major or minor Just Intonation transposable to any key. That would be nice for a counter-tuned alternative fiddle set up for a piece in the key of A minor.

    I received the StroboClip HD on June 10th. I've used it every day since then including a couple of times when I had it on for about 1/2 to 1 hour in order to check intonation of a difficult passage I was practicing on my violin. I've read that the battery last through 20 hours of continuous tuning, but have not confirmed this, also by default it will turn itself off after 2 minutes. This time can be changed.

    At first I did not like the design of the foot structure which is part of the tuner clamp design, until I realized it caused the other side of the clamp to be in contact with the instrument over the entire length of the clamp overlap with the instrument, thus assuring good conduction of sound to the piezoelectric sensor in the tuner. So far I have not experienced any case where the ambient sound of the room where I am tuning effects the tuning process in any way.

    I have no substantial complaints about the tuner. I've used it 40 days since I got it, and so far with no sign of weaking of the battery. With my mechanical pegs my speed of tuning and accuracy is good as you can get. On a few occasions I have confirmed with its big brother, the stoboPlus HD, that my tuning error is less than 1 cent (e.g. 1 cent is 1/100th of a semitone.)

    I've tried the sweet tuning for a bass, cello, viola, violin, mandelin, acoustic guitar, ukulele, banjo, and others and it performed well in all cases. In the case of the low ranged bass, it was as good as the violin in response. (The tuner was on the bass bridge.)

    One word of warning. If you don't have the easy tuning mechanical pegs on a violin, without tuners on the strings it is hard to tune accurate enough to take advantage of the full accuracy of tuning. Even with tuners, you may discover with the StroboClip HD behavior that tuners aren't as easy or tune as smoothly as you might think. With the more accurate StroboClip HD you can see details that you might not otherwise know were there.

    I created my own sweet tuning with Peterson Connect and downloaded it to the StroboClip HD by the USB connection and this all worked well. I modified the violin sweeter to cause the strobo display to turn a little faster for slightly more sensitive tuning.

    I was surprised and especially pleased to find that down at the monthly jam of the Santa Clara Fiddler's Association which is held 2 months in the city rose garden park, that the Stroboclip HD reads very clearly by reflection in the most direct possible sunlight, making it very clearly readable in all the lighting conditions I have tried it in.

    At the Humboldt Chamber Music Camp this year I played for 5 days at Humboldt University and used it several times during each day in rehearsals, and then again in the evening before performance. It worked well in all cases.

    Sometimes it takes a slightly long first note to wake it up, but once you are tuning, it's response is terrific until you are completely done. Right after you stop playing a note it sleeps, but the instant you start playing a note, it is immediately on, and works very comfortably in this way. In no way does this energy saving operation adversely effect the tuning process. I've contacted Peterson tuners about this very minor problem of the slow initial wake up which is only a little problem because with my mechanical pegs tuning the process is so effective that the initial second or two of waking up the tuner become noticable compared to the rest of the process. They said they will look into it. It would not surprise me if they send out a firmware update to fix it. They have already updated the firmware three times. One update fixed it to not be accidently turned on as easily.

    After a small amount of getting use to it, the 92 segment strobe effect is most often smooth in response. With my mechanical pegs with 4 to 1 gear down ratio, one can smoothly approach the perfect tuning and hit it right one the head most of the time. I always approach the correct tuning from below. The strobe display will move to the right if you are a bit sharp and you the left if you are a bit flat. Because the high resolution of the display you can sense exactly how much you are out of tune by the movement. It is more accurate than needle tuners because you can tell if the strobe is drifting in one direction or the other over the full duration of the note.

    It is actually more accurate than the human ear in most environments. This can be illustrated by the fact that the the StroboClip HD sweet tuning for a violin is a harmonic fifth which exactly a ratio of 3/2. So the first harmonic on a higher string is exactly the same frequency as the second harmonic on a string that is tuned a harmonic fifth lower. After tuning carefully with the stroboclip HD and playing the two strings with their harmonics one after the other, they are so perfectly the same that you won't be able to detect the difference in pitch unless a string is false which not the usual case. Arguably in a special sound room under ideal conditions a trained human ear might match the tuner's accuracy, but certainly not under ordinary circumstances.

    I would recommend this tuner to anyone. It is $59.99 everywhere, but I think it is worth every penny.

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  3. #2
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    Thanks for the detailed review - I ordered one the other day, should arrive on Thursday!
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    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    Thank you for the review. Temping especially as it's visible in sunlight. That's been a problem with the Polytune I often use.
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  5. #4
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    Thanks for the review. I've been using the original StroboClip (as well as floor pedal and desktop versions), and I don't really need to replace it with the new one. But I'm tempted by the lower profile shape and color. It looks a bit smaller and less obtrusive than the "1950's silver TV" shape of the first one. I've been using a TC Polytune as the backup tuner for the Stroboclip, so maybe I'll shift that down to second-string backup and get this new one.

    Personally, I haven't found a use for the sweetened Peterson tunings because they fight with the 12TET fret layout on mandolins and guitars. I have used it on instruments with open tunings and no frets, like slide guitars where the Open D tuning worked well on one of my old (former) roundneck Dobros.

  6. #5
    Mediocre but OK with that Paul Busman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    This guy might find that useful. Me, not so much.

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  7. #6

    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    Mine arrived today DOA. 3.4V battery OK, turns on, menu items seem to work (although peculiar flickering when selecting). But on preferred-position bridge or headstock, does not register any string vibration, neither on EQU nor MAN. I've had the original StroboClip for six years and it is very sensitive to light pluck. The HD doesn't respond to any amplitude including a big pick grab.

    I have a trouble ticket in to Peterson who I have always found to offer great support. They say NOT to return it to original vendor who may possibly then resell a defective unit! I like the size, shape and materials; hope I get one that works. I don't use Chrome browser so can't try out Connect; maybe Peterson recognizes all the Mac musicians using default Safari and develops a version for us.

  8. #7

    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    Peterson more awesome than I expected! Answered my support request over the weekend, apologized for DOA and will ship me new tuner with a pre-paid shipping label to return the defective one. Wonderful customer service. I look forward to comparing the HD to my original stroboclip. Already like the lower profile and less bulky clip--some of my cases (Collings Vintage) are tight on storage.

  9. #8
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stroboclip HD tuner is here!

    Thanks for the reviews! Ordered mine today.
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